Traditional Water Heaters Installation & Repair

Traditional Water Heaters Come in Two Main Types

Traditional or storage hot water heaters are typically either gas or electric powered and come in a variety of sizes. Power source generally varies by geography. For example, in Oregon and Washington about forty percent of homes have electric powered heaters while in Northern and Southern California the vast majority of water heaters are gas powered.

Both residential gas and electric water heaters come in a variety of sizes but the most common are:

The majority of homes have a 40- or 50-gallon tank with the 50-gallon tank being the most common. Larger tanks such as a 66- or 80-gallon tank are usually only used for very large homes or for homes that have a large hot tub or jacuzzi.

It is possible to upsize or downsize your water heater. Customers are often interested in installing a larger tank if they have recently installed a hot tub. When upsizing to a larger tank, we will ensure that your entire system is installed safely and typically this will entail increasing the size of the vent on gas water heaters. Larger tanks emit a larger volume of carbon monoxide and as a result, must have a larger vent to operate safely.

We can also check space requirements with you over the phone to ensure a larger tank will fit. Occasionally, a customer will choose to downsize their tank as 66- and 80-gallon tanks are often more expensive than more common 50-gallon tanks. We do not recommend downsizing from a 50-gallon tank to a 40-gallon tank, however, as 40-gallon tanks are typically comparable in price.

There are a also a variety of smaller tanks used for special applications such as an under-sink water heater, sometimes called a lowboy. Small 2-, 4-, 6-, 20-, 25- and 30-gallon tanks are sometimes used as supplements to your water heater system or used as application-specific tanks. Tanks of this size can be useful for a single sink or in same cases, are used as an additional heater for a recirculation system. Tanks of this size, however, are typically only available in electric-powered heating systems.

Typically, there are four measures of how a hot water tank operates:

Efficiency rating is a measure of the percentage of heat transfer from the energy source to your water. Standard electric tanks range from 88-95% efficiency while standard gas tanks range from 55-65% efficiency. Electric tanks allow for higher energy transfer because they heat your water with heating elements that are submerged in the water, while gas fired tanks are heated from below through a gas burner.

Despite higher efficiency ratings, typically electric tanks are more expensive to operate as the cost of electricity is higher than the cost of gas to heat your water. So, while heat transfer is more efficient in electric tanks, this does not mean your overall energy usage is less in an electric water heater. Because of this, many utility companies and governments often encourage residents to use gas heating if choosing between gas and electric.

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Traditional Water Heaters Installation & Repair